Diana/Steely contretemps

[Jeffrey Meikle]

RE the debate between Diana and Steely (whoever you are:  will you ever
tell us your real name so those of us who aren't cognoscenti can be aware
of your stuff when we happen to see it?):

Diana's right-on that most of those who are exploited, even offshore Gulf
oil workers collecting their fat paychecks and handing them over to the
conveniently placed and friendly casinos, have no idea who/what/why they
never seem to get anywhere.  I'm reminded of Robert and Helen Lynd
returning to Muncie, Indiana, in the 1930s, to follow up on their famous
1920s study of "Middletown," expecting to find the ordinary folks
radicalized during the Great Depression.  Not at all--they were ogling the
new goods in the department stores (even though they couldn't afford them)
and looking to big business to put things to rights again.  Sorry, Steely,
but it's still courses like Diana's, just as it was 20-30 years ago, that
give lots of ordinary young folks (i.e. students) an intro to a larger
perspective on the way the world works.  Most of them don't read the Nation
or even the New York Times, and rugged individualism dies hard among the
folks who are raised on it.

Cheers,
Jeff