General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A Letter to My Sublime Allies on the US Left [View all]staggerleem
(469 posts)Earlier today, BainsBane posted a lengthy quote from a 2012 editorial by Rebecca Solnit in the Guardian. The editorial, to my reading, essentially says "Hey, we HAVE done SOME good! Let's acknowledge, and maybe even celebrate the good we have done, rather than grouse about how much better it MIGHT have been."
Mr. Pitt responds as if Ms. Solnit farted in his general direction this very morning (my apologies to the French castle guards in Monty Python & the Holy Grail.)
Pittster - I want EVERYTHING on your "here's what" list. But you apparently were never taught about catching more flies with honey than with vinegar. Movements are NOT built on vinegar. The message "Everything SUCKS!" will NOT attract more people to your side of the argument. In fact, as Ms. Solnit suggested, that very attitude may be a more effective tool to suppress the vote from the left than any 10 things our illustrious Southern legislators have come up with.
I, for one, see no advantage to an American Left that is every bit as "ideologically pure" as the American Right currently is. In fact, I see SEVERAL disadvantages, not the least of which is that new ideas (and those are what we NEED, right?) tend to be unwelcome in purist environments.