Useful Idiots and Battles We Choose to Fight

I have rather strong feelings about the complexity of understanding history, free expression, and the right to offend -- and a bias in favor of action over display.

I have long wondered (since college) at the various obsessions with PC, White Privilege, marginalization, victimization.

It seems to me, this would be exactly the sort of distraction I would create as a mechanism for dividing opposition to the dominant politics and economics -- as well as undermining support of research, free through, and education.

Specifically, I think that the current spate of campus posturing is probably going to help elect the harder-right wing¹.  (That and the condescension surrounding the current security debate , see the brilliant blog post Reality Politics, are likely to give the reactionairies a glide path to electoral success.)

So, I was not displeased to see Geoffrey R. Stone's note in the Huffington Post² Woodrow Wilson, Princeton University, and the Battles We Choose to Fight.

This article contrasts well, I think with Marian Wright Edelman's piece It's Way Past Time for America to Face These Ugly Truths.³ Which is mainly an argument for  a 'guided' introspection, but present no actions that will change reality.

There is an argument that there is nothing so powerful than an idea whose time has come⁴, that changing minds and raising consciousness is the best way to change reality.

Personally, I am on the side of the larger coalitions, shared interests, and (of course ) bigger battalions⁵.


Which is why I view the current generation of activists (not unlike many of their failed predecessors) as useful idiots and nothing more.

Or we have met the tools of the enemy, and he,she,it,zee,they, is us⁶.




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  ¹ I count Hillary and Obama as the mild right wing, at least on economics.
  ²  Which I link to  despite the injunctions from some as "They...make money off of unpaid writers, and Arianna was a long time buddy with Andrew Breitbart".  Credit where credit is due.
 ³ Oops did it again.
 ⁴   Victor Hugo 
 ⁵   Voltaire
 ⁶ Apologies to Walt Kelly.