Monday, September 22, 2008
Progressive Retreat
Using the Public Health Model to deal with hysteria generated by FOX and the FBI is not just the duty of local government and media, it's also the responsibility of educational institutions, activists and advocacy groups. And while the associated misanthropic misbehavior generated for power and profit may end up on law enforcement's plate, that doesn't mean moral authorities have no role to play in preventing or constraining it.
I'd encourage readers to check out Talk to Action, a blog by the religious left about the religious right. I'd also note the work done in the Midwest by the Center for New Community, a mainstream faith-based network that has organized an effective community-based response to the religious right's anti-immigrant, anti-gay, anti-abortion agenda for over twenty years.
As for my take on the anti-war movement, they seem to have run out of ideas due to the fact their diplomatic model of engagement was ineffective. To paraphrase Guy DeBord, they became part of the spectacle.
When a movement runs out of ideas, its participants revert to what they did before or retreat in confusion. Right now we're dealing more with public panic and private despair than cynicism in this milieu, which understandably drives some into party politics or conspiracism.
As political researchers know, little of progressive activism is based on research and analysis, and much is based on preconceptions or what is fundable. As any astute observer can see, dependence limits strategies.
I'd encourage readers to check out Talk to Action, a blog by the religious left about the religious right. I'd also note the work done in the Midwest by the Center for New Community, a mainstream faith-based network that has organized an effective community-based response to the religious right's anti-immigrant, anti-gay, anti-abortion agenda for over twenty years.
As for my take on the anti-war movement, they seem to have run out of ideas due to the fact their diplomatic model of engagement was ineffective. To paraphrase Guy DeBord, they became part of the spectacle.
When a movement runs out of ideas, its participants revert to what they did before or retreat in confusion. Right now we're dealing more with public panic and private despair than cynicism in this milieu, which understandably drives some into party politics or conspiracism.
As political researchers know, little of progressive activism is based on research and analysis, and much is based on preconceptions or what is fundable. As any astute observer can see, dependence limits strategies.
