by Dreams End » Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:36 pm
This article (your last link) was fascinating. I've been wondering about all those "trots turned neo-cons" and if these ideological transformations could simply have been changing mindsets or represented something more. It would be worth another thread, actually, if someone has a better knowledge. David Horowitz is the most interesting to me in this regard. It's one thing for a group as a whole to go from left to right in ideology...it's a bit more suspicious when they all end up wielding a great deal of influence and power as a result. But then again, I'm paranoid.<br><br>I read that article and for the first 80% or so kept saying..hmm... I guess it's possible that this guy was simply a confused, brown-nosing grandstander who was maybe a little unbalanced. Then, at the end, when he was " bragging" about basically being part of an anti-communist spy network, it suggested to me that perhaps he'd been so all along. But if that's true, he certainly was a bizarre little spy with a strange and rather obscure agenda. <br><br>As for the couple I was interested in. They not only had this "Albanian" connection, but also were, like Shwartz, extremely fascinated with the Spanish civil war, and particularly were trying to get a monument to the American volunteers who fought against the fascists: the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade." They were ultra left in appearance but ended up contributing to the destruction of this (rather ineffectual) anti-war coalition.<br><br>I Googled them yesterday and I have to say that what they are up to now seems pretty legit and substantive. The husband discovered that students were being chucked out of public schools in his city right before testing time so the school could achieve ("manufacture" would be a more precise term...love that standardized testing) better results. He started a school for these kids to attend. It seems that the work is not only legitimate but also not really of much use for someone who is a "spy" so I don't really know what to make of it all. At least they aren't neo-cons!<br><br>I'm going to write up my experiences with this coalition, specifically all the personalities who latched onto it and helped render it ineffective almost from the beginning. Like this man Schwartz, these people were often bizarre and with inconsistent ideologies and I'll never be able to sort out the crazies from the agents. In fact, I think more and more that maybe the state has a regular practice of utilizing the crazies in this regard.<br><br>A quick story: There was a man who came to these meetings regularly. He was accepted by everyone as mentally ill and not considered malicious . I think he was actually on disability, in fact. People were sympathetic as he seemed so sincere, despite the mental illness. He would often interject irrelevant and random thoughts into discussions but if it got too disruptive, he would be politely asked to leave and he would do so.<br><br>His interjections were usually very amusing. One time, a group had been arrested for civil disobedience in an action just hours before the bombing of Baghdad had begun. While in a holding cell, the news that the war had started in earnest reached them. The group stood in a circle and decided that to help process this news, they'd go around the circle and people could offer there thoughts and feelings at this horrible moment.<br><br>People shared their pain and outrage and whatever else was on their mind...till it got to the man in question, whose response was: "What do you say after this we all go out for Chinese food?" <br><br>Another time there was a heated discussion about who knows what and he raised his hand. The moderator was firm, given the tense nature of the discussion. "Are you SURE this is relevant?" "yes, yes. Definitely." He was allowed to speak.<br><br>"The Dodgers need to get some decent pitching because good pitching will beat good hitting anytime!"<br><br>The strange thing about this fellow is that after the coalition sort of dissolved into irrelevancy, someone ran into this man. His mental illness had lifted and he'd returned to his career as an architect (I think). Googling him, I see he is still active in left politics in LA...and has a few (coherent!) quotes here and there about various issues. <br><br>This sort of thing just happened all the time. Who knows what it's about. I look forward to sharing the whole story with everyone.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
