This is a response to a "status update", written by Ishmael Reed on his facebook page, regarding statements by Amy Goodman on CNN.
Reed's statement is as follows;
Amy Goodman, speaking on CNN ,from a “progressive convention,” held in Las
Vegas,
spoke of the “progressives” disappointment that Obama is not
Chavez of Venezuela.
...
They’re threatening to stay home in 2012 if they don’t get
their way. These are
the people who defeated Hubert Humphrey thus paving the way
for Nixon and
Reagan
To which I wrote the following;Liberals and so-called progressives within the corporate sponsored broadcast and print media continue to report on issues of social justice within the United States with irony and detachment (as if the system-engine just needs a tune-up, and will work fine "only if"), all the while saving their most "passionate" and "engaged" commentaries for issues far beyond our borders, particularly the ones that most closely resemble their cartoon fantasies about revolution as the total seizure of power,vis-a-vis Chavez, Castro, Mao et. al., completely ignoring the facts that, with few exceptions, these revolutions took place in largely peasant societies, completely unlike the U.S.A., with our sprawling, multi-ethnic, technologically advanced classes. Meanwhile, after having lamented for much of the last century the left of the left's inability to gain solid grounding with blacks throughout the Americas, all the while refusing to accept black leadership on this very same question, they are now flouting this historic opportunity of Obama's popularity among this very constituency they claim to covet. Instead they are criticizing Obama with the very talking points used by his detractors on the organized right. Still, AFRICOM remains the most under reported story of the last 3 years, and when a Bush cabinet member was brought up on criminal charges by the Obama-Holder D.O.J., possibly paving the way for further work in this area, of course, it was one big yawn. Perhaps the left wing of the power structure here in the United States should take stock of the fact that it stands to the right of the rest of their beloved West, stop playing these ruse cards about solidarity with actual revolutionaries outside the United States, confront their own prejudice, and clean up their own backyard. Then maybe they could find time to do the homework necessary to accomplish something beyond this tired performance, one that is in the end just an attempt to gain more access to the powers they claim to oppose.
