: Derrida's Daddy, Herr Doktor Heidegger

[Joseph Tracy]

I  really know Leo Strauss's ideas only from his  academic offspring. But a
guy who majors on Machiavelli isn't an example of post modernism.  Although
I guess it could be "stimulating" to have a debate on whether Machiavelli
is an early po-mo.

So your agrument is that post modern theories destroyed " the intellectual
backbone of the left" and that allowed an American flag disguised invasion
of militant imperialist,  "free" market  theorist,  neo- fascists( i refuse
to call them  conservative, which to me is a respectable intellectual  and
social tendency) Is it possible that the most powerful and effective
diguise for fascism in America is being Jewish. Being accused of being
anti-semitic is the kiss of death in American public discourse. Believe me,
I think every race, ism, religion, and nationality have produced a goodly
share of megalomaniacal criminals, and many of my personal artistic and
humanitarian heroes are Jewish.

  Anyway, what exactly is the intellectual backbone of the left so freely
bartered away by the po-mo's?
Is it fundamentally Marxian, Nitschean, Yankee town hall Democracy,
Christian, natural law, Evolutionary theory, libertarian,  enlightenment,
New Deal liberalism. I mean I am not being a smart -ass here ; Democracy
has always been multi-cultural in the sense that it operates through
alliances of strange bedfellows. I agree that there were some misplaced
emphases in the  academic debates of the70s &80's, but to blame the current
crop of flag waving killers on Caribbean  studies gets pretty weird.  

The problem is the unholy alliance between  the culture of militarism ,
global" investors",  corporate greed, and  democratic politics. This
alliance has been kept alive since WW2 by the creation of a political
atmosphere of  scape-goating, paranoia and lies for which Harry Truman and
Lyndon Johnson  is as culpable as Reagan or Cheney.  I don't believe 
literary and philosophical theory is that powerful a player in this drama,
just another scape goat.  


> [Original Message]
> From: Joel Katz <mittelwerk at hotmail.com>
> To: <brook7 at earthlink.net>; <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: 10/15/2004 12:56:15 PM
> Subject: RE: : Derrida's Daddy, Herr Doktor Heidegger
>
> let's not get all myopic now.  if you haven't noticed, neo-straussians
are 
> running this country and prosecuting this war.  american politics has
slid 
> to the right for over 20 years--in large part because reactionaries have 
> been funding and home-brewing their own intelligentsia, who are now
writing 
> policy.
>
> meanwhile, as far as i recall, the intellectual backbone of the left 
> splintered in the 80s under the rubric of cultural studies and identity 
> politics--second generation pomo theory.  my school in fact shut down for
a 
> few days because of a student revolt over faculty hiring practices.  the 
> result?  when the smoke cleared, we now had our very own 'carribean
studies' 
> teacher.
>
> for the intellectual left, it became more important to be gay, have a
clit, 
> idealize third-world poverty and desperation as triumph of the spirit,
apply 
> critical theory to the phone book, or preach to students to wrap
themselves 
> fetally around the texts of william blake (on the west lawn) and 
> telepathically call out to their worldly brethren to join them in
bloodless 
> utopian revolt.  then get out of college and go to work for the corporate 
> media.
>
> meanwhile, the gingrich republicans waged a culture war, against clit & 
> bongo, inc., that--to me, combined with the party-time l.a. riots
following 
> the rodney king verdict, and the televised hallelujah response to the
o.j. 
> simpson verdict--was successful enough to force the left into the center, 
> where they remain to this day.
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: "Joseph Tracy" <brook7 at earthlink.net>
> >Reply-To: brook7 at earthlink.net
> >To: "pynchon-l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >Subject: : Derrida's Daddy, Herr Doktor Heidegger
> >Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 03:25:08 -0400
> >
> >Joel K wrote
> >the affinity between lefty pomos and reactionaries couldn't be more
clear.
> >one group throws meaning to the wolves as a game, and the other chews and
> >swallows, entirely in earnest.
> >
> >The problem isn't wolves or "beasts",  the problem is humans. In my 
> >observation  racist, reactionary, patriotic, Imperial, classical, 
> >communist, fascist, Old testament , colonial, Islamic, New Testament, 
> >capitalist, scientific , advanced, primitive,lefty, righty, German , 
> >English, Russian,  Incan, Chinese, Mongol, Jewish ,  American  or any
other 
> >brand of militarist killers rarely feed on post modernist literature. I
am 
> >not defending Heidegger, but fascists of all stripes seem to be most
likely 
> >to be reviving some well worn triumphal mythos of the superior "people" 
> >taking their proper place among inferiors.
> >
> >  I'm kinda surprised you take this guy so seriously; from the fragments
of 
> >Derrida posted thus far i can't tell the difference between it and 
> >automatic writing or Nostradamus, about as informative and 
> >thought-provoking as tea leaves, and probably about as influential.
> >Joseph Tracy
> >brook7 at earthlink.net
> >Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.
>
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