Seems Reasonable To Me
Saul Alinsky is described by the Wikipedia article on him as "the father of community organizing" and elsewhere as "the father of modern American radicalism". In 1969, he wrote a landmark social movements book titled "Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals". Don't be fooled by its low-key title - Alinsky built his political ideology around confrontation and even violence. Nonetheless, he tried to emphasize the role of communication and persuasion:
[The] failure of many of our younger activists to understand the art of communication has been disastrous. Even the most elementary grasp of the fundamental idea that one communicates within the experience of his audience - and gives full respect to the other's values - would have rules out attacks on the American flag.
Alinsky was a torn and troubled thinker. Compare his recognition that rhetorical compromises have to be made for social progress to occur with this article linked off of Google News:
The US assault on Fallujah should be regarded in the same way as opponents of Hitler’s Nazi regime viewed the fascist bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica on April 27, 1937: a warning of what is in store for the international working class as a whole if imperialist militarism is not defeated and overthrown.
In the areas of Europe that the Nazis occupied during World War II, the type of homicidal policy guiding the US assault on Fallujah was called “exemplary punishment”... Fallujah is a symbol of the popular and legitimate Iraqi defiance of the US attempt to turn Iraq into a puppet-state. The city’s citizenry have been at the forefront of the armed resistance to the repressive US occupation of country.
Contra the New York Times, The American public is not disenchanted with what counts as progressive politics because it has heard too little of the Left's beliefs. Quite the opposite - the cultural and academic Left would do much better if people knew a little less about their true sensibiities.
[The] failure of many of our younger activists to understand the art of communication has been disastrous. Even the most elementary grasp of the fundamental idea that one communicates within the experience of his audience - and gives full respect to the other's values - would have rules out attacks on the American flag.
Alinsky was a torn and troubled thinker. Compare his recognition that rhetorical compromises have to be made for social progress to occur with this article linked off of Google News:
The US assault on Fallujah should be regarded in the same way as opponents of Hitler’s Nazi regime viewed the fascist bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica on April 27, 1937: a warning of what is in store for the international working class as a whole if imperialist militarism is not defeated and overthrown.
In the areas of Europe that the Nazis occupied during World War II, the type of homicidal policy guiding the US assault on Fallujah was called “exemplary punishment”... Fallujah is a symbol of the popular and legitimate Iraqi defiance of the US attempt to turn Iraq into a puppet-state. The city’s citizenry have been at the forefront of the armed resistance to the repressive US occupation of country.
Contra the New York Times, The American public is not disenchanted with what counts as progressive politics because it has heard too little of the Left's beliefs. Quite the opposite - the cultural and academic Left would do much better if people knew a little less about their true sensibiities.
