already felt that Webb's treatment was disrespectful; rewatching Harlan County USA confirmed it
Hey! I'm not a group member, but am always grateful for Steve's labor (and rescue) posts.
Maybe it's my Southern belle codependent niceness, but I'm particularly sick at the way Jim Webb has been treated by the punditry and some of our commentariat.
I always thought he should have run as a Republican, to at least mitigate the chance that one of their maniacs might actually win the election. I don't agree with his policies, but I respect his service, and I respect his advocacy of highly impoverished people of Appalachia and his courage in trying to bring the nuances of this problem into our discussions of diversity.
I also respect the fact that he's trying to run within the Democratic party because the Republicans left him. I respect his courage in being on a stage and in a group where he was so mocked. And he's got a lot more call to talk about his military service and the violence involved than all of the armchair wussies that support Trump and his ilk (as well as Cheney and W and other wimps who avoided service and sent others to their deaths).
TCM ran Harlan County, USA last night, which I hadn't seen since college, and I was just blown away by how little and how much has changed in that time.
One thing that struck me was how many of those strikers today would have Rush Limbaugh cranked up on their radios and would consider it "treason" to vote Democratic. I don't apologize for the social progress Democrats have helped us make and if otherwise Union agitators feel "feminized" by our party that's their problem. But we've somehow lost this very important, energetic base, and Webb in his own way has been addressing this for 20 years.
It's no wonder to me that he and Sanders have a lot of respect for each other.
I didn't want to post this in GD-P because I don't want the vicious attacks. Just wanted to see if the real labor activists here (I'm only "armchair"
had any insights or comments.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Watching the film with all union members and families was extra special.
