The most recent 20 comments posted to Electrolite by Invisible Adjunct:

A preliminary study suggests that pregnant women who were exposed to the 9/11 pollution were twice as likely to give birth to smaller babies. Of course the findings are preliminary, followups will have to be done, and etc. But not a good sign.

"Bush, who during Vietnam war bravely combatted an extremely inconvenient schedule..."

Well, that's my laugh for the day. If only it were funny...

This past weekend the NYTimes had a good article on "the moral and tactical confusion" surrounding guerilla warfare ("The War in Iraq Turns Ugly. That's What Wars Do"), by James Webb, who was a Marine platoon commander in Vietnam.

De Genova is untenured, yes, but is he indeed non-tenure track? He is listed on his department's web page as an "assistant professor," which usually means tenure-track. Non-tenure track professors are usually called "visiting assistant professors" or "adjunct assistant professors" (both of which categories De Genova's department also lists). I hear you, Sara (my situation is similar to yours), though, like you, I don't think marginal status excuses such idiotic and irresponsible comments.

Yes, there is a double standard: those over on the right too often get a free pass. It's not fair. But the reality is, extremists like De Genova will be used to discredit more moderate left-liberal positions.

Mary Kay,

I don't this is about whether or not it's ok to dissent. As I read Burke's piece, the right to dissent is a given. What he's talking about is: what of dissent will be effective? and what kind of dissent might be not only ineffective but actually and positively counterproductive?

I think Burke is exactly right about the need to take a good long look at Republican grassroots organizing. Unless of course we really believe the right's line that they are the ones who truly represent the needs and interests of the "average American"? I for one don't believe it. But I do sometimes wonder whether some of my co-travellers over on the lefty progressive side aren't more interested in building their own republic of virtue than in speaking to (and also listening to!) a much broader constituency -- support from which broader base is the only way that our concerns will ever move into the mainstream from the margins on which, it seems, some would like to remain. In any case, if we cannot take a critical look at our own political tactics and have open (and yes, sometimes uncomfortable) debate about them, then I'm afraid we really are sunk.

I agree with these criticisms of the Republic of Virtue tactics. They do strike me as self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing, more about affirming "the moral virtue that the protestor confers upon himself," as Timothy Burke puts it, than about persuading those who do not already belong to the self-appointed moral elect.

As Bruce Baugh suggests, a Mr. Rogers would be great: someone mild-mannered and quietly decent who would make an appeal not by antagonizing but by engaging the sensibilities of the middle classes. But where is this Mr. Rogers to be found?

The larger problem, I think, is that there isn't enough of a space for political dissent and debate and opposition. In terms of "respectable" political speech (ie, speech which really will speak to rather than alienate its intended audience) the spectrum is actually quite narrow. So instead of a public sphere that is large enough to accomodate a range of positions and perspectives, we see the attempt to create various counter-cultural counter-public spheres which will only ever exist on the margins.

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